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Monday, December 21, 2015

"Good news- Bad news" stories used to be a kind of joke. Sometimes these days it can seem like "bad news-bad news" - unless you go out of your way to find some good somewhere.

The Rejoice! part- we did finally get our excellent chestnut crop stabilized, in regard to temperature and spoilage. So; in case you were holding off on ordering some- now would be the time! We had to re-invent our sorting process, find a new way to get bad nuts out; we did. Order away.

The well, sort of... - it turns out the Global Warming Grinch is quite versatile. He's getting us right now in ways I didn't mention before; but ways that can wear us out.

Our nut storage cellar is at a stable 35°, after a couple seriously cold nights; not perfect, but ok.

But now; the air temperature is back well above freezing; and our frozen soil is now covered with a nice 1/4 inch of - wet mud.

This is no joke for us; all our farm work patterns have developed on the idea this is Minnesota, and we have winter here- the ground will be either frozen hard by now; or covered in snow. We're totally prepared for either. But not for mud.

Mud makes it impossible to get vehicles around on our wonderful sod roads- they'll get ripped down into dirt, and never recover. So we wind up doing a lot of walking. If you've ever been here, you'll understand how much - our operation is spread all over 160 acres; it's 1/4 mile from the cellar to the greenhouse, where we pack nut orders; and another 1/4 mile from there to the place the cars are parked.

Livestock - plans are messed up. The Icelandic sheep thrive in snow- if there is any in the paddock, they will refuse to drink any water you provide. No snow. Have to haul water - on mud, by hand. Plus; both the sheep and the horses will turn their paddock into a pig pen- if left too long on thawed sod- ruining next year's grazing (and generating a huge field of thistles). So - we have to move them; at a time of year when that's not in the plans.

Walking on icy mud- is deadly dangerous, not a joke at all. And- it really looks like this warm Pacific air thing will run well into mid January, at least...

And our bright sun-on-snow winter days- are on the gloomy side; brown grass and bark.

But! The nuts are in good shape. And I am so NOT going to say "things could be worse..."

Friday, December 11, 2015

Folks; below is a press release we're trying to spread around; please give it a read, and pass it on to friends- and any journalists you may know! Photos at the bottom; keep in mind this is a "press release", not really a "blog post"- took me about 2 days to make this as short as it is!

Global Warming Grinch Steals Holiday Chestnuts

Trees and forests have been at the top of the agendas at the Paris Climate Conference. But here is a new twist on the story: the Global Warming Grinch is not only stealing the snow from children across the US - our chestnuts are being stolen too. Right now. And he’s coming for your wine and cheese.

(photo of Badgersett chestnuts; photos at end of this release, or by email)

“We were blindsided.” says Philip Rutter, of Badgersett Research Farm. “This was the warmest autumn on record for Minnesota; we were fully aware of that, and took steps to cope. Chestnuts are as perishable as apples - one of the reasons they are so prized at the winter holidays. And storage temperature is a known factor; they need cold storage as soon as possible.”

“What we didn’t see coming was - our deep cold storage cellar is now too warm, and using long tested methods, we couldn’t get it cool enough. In Minnesota we’ve always had plenty of perfectly reliable cold air; and Nature did our refrigeration. This year the cellar was 15°F warmer than our 25 year average- and before we knew it, the chestnuts were spoiling faster than we’d ever seen.

“I’ve talked to folks using traditional earth cooling for their crops, across the country- and many report the same thing. Seriously?? Underground storage is already hotter. Too hot. The way we’ve handled our crops for decades, even centuries - can’t be counted on. Wherever you are in the world- buy your holiday chestnuts as soon as you can. It looks like a short year - because of Global Grinching. That’s what we’re calling it now.

“It won’t be just chestnuts - the Warming Grinch is coming after your wine, beer, cheese, salami, prosciutto - and far more. Artisanal producers of those foods rely on traditional seasonal temperature variations. No wine or cheesemaker can afford to bet that next year will be normal; you’re going to see an enormous amount of new refrigeration installed. More energy needed; more heat produced. I don’t think that new expense, or the scale of it, was on anyone’s list of what to expect. Particularly not this soon.“

One of the dangers of Climate Change, aka Global Warming, is that it may cause changes no one anticipated. Exactly that has happened this year: with direct impact on your holiday.

Badgersett’s chestnuts weren’t ambushed by ignorance: as Founding President of The American Chestnut Foundation, a Past President of The Northern Nut Growers Association, and a chestnut producer for 20+ years, Rutter knows chestnuts. “By their first names.” he smiles.

Nor is he a stranger to climate change science. An evolutionary ecologist, he has been an invited speaker at international climate conferences, and was a winner of the 2013 MIT Climate CoLabs Contest in Forestry And Agriculture. He knows the theories, and the data. “Even in 1988, the conference in DC was ‘Preparing For Climate Change’. I hate that phrase “global warming” - it’s a cheap oversimplification, probably invented by an oil company; but this year it was actual warming that clobbered us.

“For 25 years, by late October our big ‘root cellar’, and all the nuts, could be cooled to 35°F day and night; by manipulating ventilation. We’d get it even cooler into November, just using night-time frosty air. The chestnuts kept perfectly... but basically, we can’t ever count on natural cooling again. We can’t afford to.”

Chestnuts are special for many people at the holidays; and not just because of the ‘Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire’ song. The song was written when most listeners had personal experience with holiday chestnuts; and the childhood memories of chestnuts made the song a classic - not the other way around.

“Upshot; while we harvested around 2,000 lbs of premium chestnuts this year - for the first time, spoilage caused by warm temperatures will mean our supply is a good deal less than that. Some folks- may not be able to get theirs. “ says Rutter. 15° above target in the perishable food world is a disaster.”

The Paris Climate Change Conference has focused a great deal on the need for more trees, and better care of existing forests. Badgersett has a different angle on trees- they are developing advanced genetics to allow planting trees - on good agricultural lands - for main food crops. And they produce wood, too; biomass fuel. “Little known fact- trees can capture around 3 times the carbon in on year that regular crops like corn do. That means they have 3 times the energy available; yes they can make food; and wood too. Proven.”

Not all the chestnuts are spoiled, of course. “We’ll ship them out as long as the supply lasts- instead of 98% perfect, we’re only able to ship around 92% perfect this year- the way it’s happened, our usual separation technologies have not been enough; we’ve had to invent brand new ways to find and separate bad nuts- including the ones with nothing you can see. Just take a look before you chomp it all- if you see black/gray spots - toss it, and take the next one.

A special irony to this story is that Badgersett Research Farm has been dedicated for almost 40 years to developing new crops for - perennial agriculture, one of the holy grails of sustainability. And just this year, Badgersett successfully accomplished a major leap toward bringing chestnuts back into world food crop status. By adding sheep to the system. Only to lose many to climate change- exactly what they work against.

“This year, with the help of a grant from the Shuttleworth Foundation, we’ve made sheep a permanent part of our management. They do a better job of making grass short than any machine ever could. We harvested the biggest chestnut crop in years, because the sheep made it possible. There’s a Catch 22, though- once you start grazing under the trees; the grass grows faster and taller, so you need more grazing. But that means more wool to sell; more lamb produced - more cash. Tractors and mowers just give you bills for diesel fuel and the mechanic.”

(photo of sheep in deep grass)

Badgersett has produced a book this year, “Growing Hybrid Hazelnuts: The New Resilient Crop For Climate Change”. Reviews have been excellent: Joel Salatin: “Sign me up!”, Booklist: “a godsend”, Steve Gabriel: “a roadmap”.

ADDITIONAL STORY

“Scoffers ask ‘where were chestnuts ever major food?’ They haven’t done their homework; food historians know. In western cultures, chestnut flat bread is the second oldest known; only chickpea is older. Wheat bread came maybe a thousand years later. In China; one traditional name for chestnut translates as ‘the rice from trees’. Across the world, civilizations were actually launched with nut and tree crops, and only later did plows and grass seed (wheat, ed.) happen. Dates, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts- we think of them as luxuries now, but it was not that way at the dawn of civilization. Research has recently calculated that gathering nuts can bring as much food into the tribe as efficiently as skilled hunting.” Rutter says.

Chestnuts are not the only new crop from trees Badgersett is developing; using a non-GMO breeding technique unlike standard crop breeding, Rutter has produced two other candidates for “real food” production; hazelnuts, and a new hybrid pecan. “I started out in 1978 to use a phenomenon known as a ‘hybrid swarm’ to generate new crop characteristics in these woody plants. No one had ever heard of it, except evolutionary scientists, back then. Now that DNA analysis is so cheap and common, we see that nature creates new species out of hybrid swarms all the time.” Rutter shakes his head; “Regular crop breeders rarely understand, because the process is very unlike the standard process. What we’re doing is really a form of accelerated evolution; using complex mixtures of at least 3 species at a time. We’ve started calling these crops ‘neohybrids’, because no existing name fits, at all.

“The neohybrid hazelnuts are closest to ‘ready for prime time’; we’ve harvested them with a blueberry picking machine for 3 years, and the 3rd cycle hybrid selections are predictable and productive enough for farmers to think about.

“Just this week I heard from John Petersen, Head of Environmental Studies at Oberlin College, that his students had finished analyzing this years data on their planting of neohybrid hazels. John has been using this planting as a teaching tool for his Systems Ecology classes, and to generate some real data on possible biomass fuel and food crops. These plants are only 4 years old- seedlings in 2011, and the students report nut production equal to a rate of 1,000 lbs per acre. Plus some wood now too big for their original methods to measure.

“Which is where we get back to the conversations in Paris. We can now produce as much food per acre as soybeans- from the neohybrid hazelnuts. Harvest by machine. Plus, the nutshell is available for biomass fuel every year. Plus- the wood itself is harvested periodically; more biomass.”

Monday, November 23, 2015

I'm working on getting this news out to all who need it- Badgersett will NOT be shipping orders of chestnuts in time for Thanksgiving; something that has not happened before.

We WILL be shipping in time for Christmas. The story ends well, so hang in there; and keep these in mind!

Our chestnut harvest this year was the largest we've had for years; thanks to our (now permanent) incorporation of both sheep and horses into our chestnut production.

With the grass mowed, and brush cleared- the ground prepared by grazing made it possible to harvest the crop - not spend hours searching for nuts in meadows and thickets. It works; and after 5 years of experimentation with exactly how, we now know this is the direction we will stick with.

(We refuse to use either herbicides or tillage in our woody crops; a chestnut planting with naked soil between the rows seems to us to be no improvement on "corn and beans", from any standpoint.)

So we ended chestnut harvest in October, with some thousands of pounds precisely stored away in our root cellar; using the special techniques we've developed over decades that result in "the best chestnuts in North America."

That was 2003, however (we used big mowing machines for grass; and a lot of time and diesel fuel). And here in 2015 we've run head on into a changed climate.

We can no longer cool our root cellar by opening it to the frosty night air. This past October was the warmest on record for the entire world; and here it has meant the cellar has averaged nearly 15°F warmer than the averages from 1990 to 2000, when we were "establishing practices." An average temperature over 50°F does not allow chestnuts to develop either the sweetness or the depth of flavor we demand, and that our old customers come back to us for.

The nuts are simply not ready to ship - if you ate them now, you would never understand what a truly good chestnut is like. So we will not ship them.

But!! Just in the past week, we've had a turn in the weather so that the cellared nuts are now, finally, making progress towards being worth eating; we now know they will become wonderful in time for your Holiday meals; and we'll start shipping as soon as we can.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Folks who are intending to come to our Fall Open House tomorrow, Sat. Oc. 17, will want to be a bit prepared. For one thing, the temperature when we open at 10 AM is currently forecast to be around 28°F; a considerable change from even yesterday.

Dress warm! But it may also warm up fast with clear skies and strong sun.

Depending on how long the temperatures are below 28° overnight, it is possible that chestnuts on the trees may be actually frozen tomorrow morning. They become inedible almost immediately in that case, and any green burrs will not longer open. But- nuts already on the ground are at near 0 risk of freezing; the ground is still very warm.

Less obviously; you need to be sure your group have shoes on that will withstand walking in layers of chestnut burrs-

Those spines are sharper than needles, literally, and easily penetrate fabric shoes. It's possible to wear fabric among burrs, but it requires constant care.

Likewise, if you and your family want to take us up on our offer of a FREE gallon of chestnuts; you will definitely want to be prepared with strong leather gloves, to nudge the burrs out of your way. It would be a good idea if you could bring something like a gallon icecream bucket; our supply there is small.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Badgersett Farm, in Fillmore County is showcasing both crops at their Open House Saturday, Oct. 17. “We’ve been growing chestnuts here for nearly 40 years; but a couple of things fell into place this year that let us seriously recommend other farmers in Minnesota consider them as a crop. And the “pecans” - are actually “hickory-pecans”; hybrids of pecan and two hickory species. Some of them taste like pecans; and some taste like hickories - but they all - will grow and bear crops in at least the southern half of Minnesota.” says Philip Rutter, founder and chief scientist at Badgersett.

They'll be showing them off at their upcoming Open House, Saturday Oct. 17, at Badgersett Farm., from 10 AM to 6 PM.

“We’ll feature both crops; but - the chestnut crop is so abundant this year - we are inviting the public to bring their families and pick up the chestnuts for your Holiday stuffing — for FREE! The first gallon, that is! And just during the Open House. That’s way more than most folks ever use in any case. If folks want to pick up more then one gallon, we will have to charge for it- but a lot less than if we have to pick them up for you!” says Rutter. “We can’t give away the hickory-pecans yet- but you’ll be able to taste them, and crack some for yourself; you can crack them with a hand cracker, like pecans. And you can order some for delivery in December.”

Besides the nuts, those attending the Open House will be able to — split chestnut fence rails. “That’s assuming you know how to handle a sledge hammer and wedge. This is likely the first time anyone in the USA has split chestnut fence rails for many decades.” according to Rutter, who was also Founding President of The American Chestnut Foundation.

Visitors will also be able to see the Icelandic sheep flock that has made harvesting both chestnuts and hickory-pecans economcially possible. With the critical help of a Flash Grant from the Shuttleworth Foundation, Badgersett now considers the sheep “Permanent. They mow grass and weeds better than any human or machine possibly can. Plus they produce wool - and lambs, which lawn mowers rarely do.” Rutter grins. “Then there’s the horses...”

Monday, October 5, 2015

This has been the work of years, by Brandon, to get our very old website re-built from scratch - and, finally! Actually Editable - by normal humans.

Be aware- we still have tons of wording that will be out of date- but we're working on getting that all fixed, bit by bit. If you find a particularly egregious example, please to let us know, at info@badgersett.com; that will help.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

We've been wondering all year if we would get a real chestnut harvest this year, or not- since the abnormally cold spring led our trees here in Minnesota to flower about 2 weeks late.

The trees have made up their minds though, and their answer is YES -

This is T-401-S in flower (and Eleanor beneath) - and all those flower did indeed turn into chestnuts, currently loading the branches heavily.

This tree has had the chestnut blight for 5 years- see how poorly it's doing? No? You're correct- it doesn't care. Even though there is a large basal canker; you simply can't see anything from a distance. I photograph the cankers each year- and keep worrying they'll win the battle one day; but so far - the tree is winning; and making nut crops to boot.

That's Anastasia posing under the tree, our pony mule; the horses were too busy eating grass- and pruning chestnut limbs; to come when I called just now.

Something that's not only interesting- but important; the size of the nut and the date when they are ripe are often not related; some of our smallest, and some of our biggest nuts- are ripe; now; really quite early for Minnesota:

Monday, August 31, 2015

We're about 2 weeks late this year with main hazel ripening; we had a late spring, and cool summer. But; finally; we're at early peak; if you're not already picking; get out and check! The crows and jays are working.

And! DON'T Forget! Some of the neohybrid hazels have been BRED to NOT look ripe! So as to fool the jays and crows. I was far more successful at that than I expected. Check the nut inside the husk do NOT rely on the color and condition of the husk!

If you're interested in helping out here at Badgersett - you can now send Megan Rutter a Facebook message, and she'll get it via smartphone, right then, as we pick; and tell you where to join us!

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Something we've come to know in the past several decades; the word "sustainable" - is a synonym for "slow".

Complex systems take time to assemble, time to comprehend and appreciate, and time to manage. "Fast" - pretty much always means corners are being cut somewhere.

This year's Field Day is going to reflect that concept of "slow". We will probably not be having regimented tours; leaving on time, exactly addressing little bits. Expect, rather, abundant time to wander around; see for yourself, and ask all the questions you like.

We have managed to get plenty of representative nut rows mowed and cleared so walking and seeing is easy. And in the process, I've spent plenty of time cussing the work; much of which sheep would do faster and far better. If we only had enough sheep; and shepherds. Sweat and diesel looks increasingly stupid to me, as we learn more about the sheep. (Yes, and the horses too.)

Come, and you'll see!

The hazel harvest is just barely underway, as our "on the cool side" summer slows the main crop; the chestnut crop looks great, and is easily seen everywhere (blight and all); and the hickory/pecans took terrific, as usual.

The weather forecast is bright, pleasant, and on the warm side. We've got shade, though - lots of it.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Badgersett Research has received the honor of a Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant. Nominated by Shuttleworth Fellow Marcin Jakubowski, the $5k will serve to kick several of our directions over stubborn barriers- the first being moving our flock of Icelandic sheep from "Experimental" into fully "Permanent" status.

Notice - up above on this blog there are now 2 "tabs"; Home, and Badgersett Icelandics. In the near future, we'll be adding tabs here; like "Chestnuts", and "Hickory-Pecans" - lots of writing to do. Which -

Monday, May 11, 2015

Congratulations to our secretary, Sara, who delivered a healthy baby girl last week! Please be understanding of some slower-than-usual communication for the next few weeks...We will be starting shipping tubelings in a serious way this week, even so.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

We still have thousands of Badgersett Standard hazel tubelings available for this season, and we might have specific machine-picked types left (depending on the actual viability of years-stored seed, which varies). We are essentially SOLD OUT of all other types of hazel tubelings for 2015.
If you place an order with one of our many other tubeling types, and allow substitutions: we will get as close to your desires as we can, and in some cases may still be able to fill the order as you desire.

Orders with "no substitutions" for anything other than Standard and Machine Picked will have to wait for 2016 at this point.

Planting is in full swing in the greenhouse, and we've got thousands of hazels soaking up today's sunshine!